Complete the Circle
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Disappearing Shards and Memories
"Shikon no Tama?" asked the scorpion lady as she saw the piece of the Shikon no Tama form in her hand. Inuyasha was just as surprised as the youkai. How did the jewel get into him? He looked at the wound on his body, eyes widening in surprise as he saw the blood glowing.
"The Shikon no Tama," the youkai laughed. "Finally, I have a piece of you."
Inuyasha doubted that what the woman held was indeed a shard of the Shikon no Tama. For one thing, the shard was semi-transparent, and for another, why would the jewel be in him? According to Kagome and the others, the jewel initially appeared in Kagome, not him.
"Isn't that Naraku's Shikon shard?" asked Kagome, gasping in surprise.
Naraku? That's right. Naraku received the shard from Kikyo, after she stole it from Kagome, Inuyasha remembered painfully. What? How do I know this? They didn't tell me about this…
"Give it back!" shouted Kagome at the youkai, who was about to swallow the shard.
It's mine. I want it. No, I need it.
Inuyasha looked up at the youkai. He heard his friends gasping in surprise and he knew why. A wisp of wind blew lightly in the afternoon sun, whipping his hair around his face. His hair. It was silver. He knew that his eyes had returned to their original golden color. But he didn't want it. He didn't want any of this.
The semi-transparent Shikon shard suddenly disappeared from the youkai's hands, transforming back into a pool of glowing blood. The blood dripped from the youkai's hands as she screamed in frustration at losing the Shikon shard, turning back to a blood red color, no longer glowing.
"I'll kill you!" the youkai shouted, charging at Inuyasha. He looked at her coolly, no fear in his eyes, almost as if he would rather welcome death than live.
"Sankon Tetsusou!" he shouted, swiping her with his claws. He knew the others were surprised that "Musashino" knew this attack, but they shouldn't have been. After all, it was "Inuyasha" that was attacking now, not "Musashino."
"Brat!" the youkai spat, nursing her injury. She had dodged his attack in the last minute and so was only injured at the shoulder.
"I would have escaped while I still could, Baa-baa," Inuyasha said coldly, getting up from the ground. "Now, you'll die." With that, he leapt up from the ground and performed another claw attack, slicing her across her body. She backed off just in time so that her vital organs weren't hit.
"The only one who's going to be dying will be you," hissed the youkai, transforming into a giant scorpion. She brought her poisonous tail down on Inuyasha, hoping to slice the boy down the middle.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed. Inuyasha dodged the attack easily.
This life is no longer mine. I died five hundred years ago. I promised myself that I would not live again. I refuse to live that life. I refuse to know, to remember, to feel what I have felt again.
I will die so that "Musashino" can live.
The scorpion youkai pounced on him, pinning him down under her numerous legs. His eyes flashed purple, and in a moment, all traces of his youkai heritage disappeared. Suddenly the youkai started screaming in agony, backing away from the now "human" boy.
Musashino was on the ground, unconscious, but his was glowing with a strange light. An invisible wind seemed to go towards him, seeming to be sucked into him. The scorpion youkai desperately tried to get away from the boy, but was failing. Her youki was being consumed by the boy in vast amounts, and she knew she would not last any longer. Suddenly, she transformed into a normal sized scorpion, all youki gone, life leaving the small body. She knew now why her master had wanted to control the boy. The boy had the power to drain youkai of every last bit of their youki, killing the youkai. A weapon such as that was indeed beneficial to her master. She cursed him for never telling her of the boy's full potential, but most of all, she cursed herself with the last of her breath for being a fool, and trusting those that should not be trusted.
Sango saw the exchange between Inuyasha and the scorpion youkai take place, and was surprised of the outcome. She wasn't exactly sure what had just happened, but she knew that it couldn't be good. She saw Kagome rush to the unconscious Inuyasha's side, hesitating to shake him in case he had any injuries, but worry for him overriding any caution.
Sango limped there, not wanting to further irritate her ankle. Miroku walked next to her, always by her side so that if she stumbled or tripped, he would be there to help her. They both reached Inuyasha, and Miroku crouched down next to him, checking his pulse.
"He's still alive," he said calmly, but Sango could detect concern and confusion from him.
"I know," Kagome said, tears flowing out of her eyes as she tried to stop them. "I know. It's just that… It's just that…"
"You're worried," Sango completed for her. The girl nodded.
"Let's get him back to camp," Miroku said. "It shouldn't be too far from here." Sango knew that Miroku had no way of judging how far the camp was from this place, but she didn't say anything. Kagome had enough to worry about, and when Inuyasha came to, he would have a lot of questions to answer.
Miroku picked up the heavy Inuyasha with the help of Kagome, and between the two of them, started carrying Inuyasha towards the direction of the camp. Sango followed behind them, favoring her twisted ankle. The group slowly made it back to camp, reaching the camp some time after the sun had finally set.
He felt empty again. Like a part of him was missing. But he couldn't, for the life of him, remember what it was that he was missing. He didn't know if it was important. He didn't know if it was insignificant. He didn't know if it was just a dream.
He felt himself start to float back to reality. It felt like he was going through a bog, every step he took tiring him out. But he knew he had to reach his destination, whatever that was. He knew that if he didn't cross this gap now, he may never will.
Finally, he started to open his eyes. The sight that met him confused him. There were stars out in the night sky. He was surrounded by trees. Everything was so unfamiliar to him. He couldn't even comprehend where he was.
"Inuyasha! You're awake!" a girl said, looking terribly relieved. She looked like she had been crying, her eyes were slightly puffy and red. "Are you okay? How do you feel?"
He searched for her in his memory banks, but came up with nothing. Who was this girl? Why was she talking to him, assuming that she was talking to him? He looked around him and saw that there were two others that were there, both of whom he did not know, or perhaps he did not recognize.
"Excuse me," he said as politely as he could, just as his mother taught him. His mother…who? Why did he not have any memory of her? "Who are you?" he asked.
He heard her gasp in surprise and the other two look at him in alarm. It wasn't unusual for a stranger to ask this question, was it? Then again, what if he wasn't a stranger? There were so many things missing from his mind right now, that he didn't know what to think.
"You… You don't remember?" she asked. She looked so disappointed that it hurt him. He felt like he should remember, not for his own sake, but for hers. He couldn't stand people being sad because of him.
"No…" he said with difficulty, feeling like he had disappointed her with this answer. "No, I'm afraid."
"Inuyasha, are you sure?" the other girl asked. Inuyasha? Who's that?
"My name is Musashino," he said gently, but firmly. "Hayashi Musashino. I don't know why you keep on calling me 'Inuyasha,' but I assure you, I'm not him." The three looked at him with shocked expressions. He felt incredibly guilty for declaring his true name, but they had to know.
"Do you…know who I am?" asked the boy who looked like he was somewhere around his own age. Was he supposed to know him?
"No…" he said slowly, wracking his brain for any memory of the person standing before him. All he came up with were…nothing. Nothing, nothing, and more nothing. Something weird was going around here. Why would a person just walk up to a stranger and ask them if they knew him or her unless they had met somewhere? The person before him looked like he was serious about the question, so it was definitely not a prank. Then what? If he had met this person before, shouldn't he at least feel like he met him before?
"Do you remember…?" started the girl with the really long hair. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Do you remember anything other than your name?"
"What kind of question is that?" asked Musashino without annoyance. He really was curious. Was it really possible for him to lose his memory?
"It's just that you don't remember us, and we're your friends, so I was wondering if there was anything else that you forgot," the girl said, sitting down on the ground. He saw that her ankle was slightly swollen and wondered how that happened.
"I don't think I forgot anything else," he said, sounding unsure himself. Other than the fact that I don't remember a thing about my mom, and I don't know who any of these people are, and I don't remember how I got here, I'm pretty sure I remember everything else, he thought to himself sarcastically. But he wasn't going to start declaring that to the world. He didn't even know if he could trust these people yet, even if they did seem concerned about him. The first girl he might be able to trust, but he wasn't sure about the other two. He wondered why he felt that way.
He frowned, looking at the girl whom he had first seen when he woke up. There was something about her. Something in him kept on warning him about her. He felt like he could trust her, but then he also felt that if he did get to know her, something bad would happen. He didn't know where the feeling came from, or why he was feeling that way, but that was how he felt. He wondered if he was going crazy, or if he had fallen into one of those parallel universes that people were always talking about.
"Do you know the name of your parents?" asked the boy.
"My parents are Hayashi Hikaru and Hayashi Tamako," Musashino said confidently. All right. At least I remember their names. Now all I need is a face to go with them, or maybe an event or something. He tried to think of anything that might have involved his parents, but his mind drew a blank. Why can't I remember what my own parents did? For that matter, why can't I remember what I did with them? Wait a minute… I don't even remember most of my life!
"How about your sister?" asked the same person.
"My—my sister?" he asked, not remembering anyone who was his sister. Did he really have a sister? Wait a minute. Yes, I did. She has silver hair like…like me? No, I have black hair. Wait, how did she get silver hair? Hold on… My grandfather has silver hair. That's right! My grandfather is a youkai! That's why my sister has silver hair like my grandfather. But wait. Why can't I even remember what color hair my parents have?
"Your sister, Rin," the person said, obviously getting worried with his answer. "All right, maybe that was a bit difficult since she is a bit young so probably doesn't have that great an impact on your life. How about…your godfather? Do you remember him?"
Godfather? What the hell? I don't remember any trace of a godfather. Then again, about the only person that I can actually recall right now is my grandfather, so I can't really say if I do have a godfather. He shook his head to answer the boy's question.
"What do you remember from your life?" asked the boy. Musashino felt that the boy knew more about his life than he did. But how could he? He started to feel very frustrated. Why, or actually, how would a person know about his life? It's not like—okay, you know what? Never mind. Who cares if I knew him or not. What I want to know right now is what the fuck's going on, and frankly at this point, I don't really care if the answer I get comes from dog shit.
He remembered that if his mother ever caught him talking like this, she would give him such a punishment. Mom doesn't like me using "bad words'"? Okay, that's an improvement. I remembered that she dislikes cussing. Great. That doesn't really help me that much.
"I come from a pretty good family. My grandfather owns a dojo where he teaches all sorts of martial arts, namely ones that involve weapons," he started, and found that he really couldn't remember much more beyond that. "Um, I think I live somewhere near a shrine. Yeah. And um… I don't know," he concluded, feeling like an idiot. What kind of person wouldn't remember anything from their past? He didn't get amnesia, did he? He didn't have any injuries, did he?
He started to check himself for injuries, and found that there was a hole in his shirt near his stomach. It was weird. The area around the shirt was covered in blood, yet there was no apparent wound in him.
"I guess your youkai blood temporarily released to heal you, then disappeared again," the boy said. "Though I don't know or understand why…"
"Huh? Youkai?" asked Musashino, wondering how did he know about youkai.
"What? You don't even remember what a youkai is?" asked the boy.
"I remember. It's just that I was wondering how you knew about them," he replied.
"If you had your memories, then you would know," the person said quietly. Musashino didn't question him anymore. He stood up and took a look at his surroundings. Forest. Tents. Campfire. These people must have been camping, and he was going to take a wild guess by assuming that he had been camping with them when he suddenly lost his memory.
"So, if we're out here camping, then we might as well have some fun," he said suddenly, surprising the other three. "I'm mean, the reason we're here is to have fun, right? So why not take advantage of the situation?"
"What about your memories?" asked the girl with the long hair.
"Well, it doesn't look like I'm going to remember anything anytime soon, so might as well party before my memory and conscience catch up to me, eh?" he joked. "No point in wasting time sitting around asking questions when we can do so many other things. Besides, frankly, you guys are depressing me. What with all your sad faces and worried questions. Really, you should learn how to lighten up."
The just looked at him in silence, each trying to puzzle him out. He just didn't make sense as a person. Shouldn't he be even a little worried about the entire condition?
"Let me guess. Being happy is better than being sad or grumpy all the time, right?" asked the boy.
"How did you know?" he said in a fake shocked voice. Then he grinned childishly. "Actually, that really is my motto. So let's all follow it and have some fun with whatever time we have left! The moon has yet to rise to midnight, and the sun has yet to shine, so let's do what we came here to do."
The others just looked at each other uncertainly. Their friend had definitely gone crazy. What person in their right mind would ignore such a grave problem as this?
"Whatever," Musashino said when the others didn't move. "I'll just go fishing. It doesn't matter if I don't catch anything, right?"
"Uh, right," Kagome said, breaking out of her shock. "We have ramen."
"Oh, goody!" he answered to her bit of information enthusiastically. "I'll just go now then."
"It's at night. You won't see anything," the boy said.
"Did you know you are really pessimistic?" he asked. "It's bad for you. You should see the best of every situation. It's at night, so I can't see the little fishies, which means, they can't see me either. See what a great deal this is?" And without another word, he marched off towards the direction of the lake.
The three stood stunned for a few minutes before their brains engaged again. They were unsure of what to do now. Did they take his advice and "party" or did they try to help their friend?
"Hey, did you notice that he went towards the correct direction of the lake?" asked Sango. The other two looked at her in surprise.
"That's true…" Miroku said, his mind trying to provide a logical explanation.
"Maybe that just means he has a better sense of direction than Miroku does," Kagome said, wondering out loud.
Miroku coughed embarrassedly.
Kagome walked to the lake, the high moon's reflection swimming on the surface of the lake. She saw Inuyasha there, sitting with his back against the tree, the fishing pole lying forgotten by his side. He appeared to be asleep, and his breathing was deep and regular. She sat down next to him, hugging her legs. It was a cool night, but she wasn't cold. At least, not yet.
She sat there, looking across the lake, the silver moon reminding her of times long gone. She sighed, cradling her head in her arms, closing her eyes. In the moment of stillness, she felt something come out of Inuyasha. She turned to him, concentrating on the feeling. Yes, she was right. There was something definitely coming out of him, even if it was coming out slowly and at steady intervals.
Kagome couldn't place the feeling. It was something that was familiar to her, but something was slightly different about it. This one didn't feel as reassuring. This one felt slightly foreign to her, although she had encountered it before.
She sat up straight and realized what it was. The thing that she was feeling was youki coming from Inuyasha. But it wasn't his own youki. It was the scorpion youkai's youki. She wondered what that meant. Did Inuyasha really absorb the youkai's youki to their death? And why was the youki coming out of him right now?
"Hey, Kagome," he said suddenly startling her. Did he just say…?
"Yeah. I remember everything now," he said, yawning. "I guess a good nap was all I needed," he joked.
"Inuyasha!" she said, chiding him for joking on such a matter.
"Yeah, yeah. 'That's not funny,' right?" he asked, grinning. She just smiled, glad that he was back to normal. Or, as normal as he could get, anyway.
"You know," he started, looking at the lake. "You were right. The lake is pretty." Kagome had to stop looking at him in surprise. No matter how much they looked alike, they were not the same person. Inuyasha of the past would always be himself, and this Inuyasha would always be as he was. She had to stop comparing them to each other.
"Oh," Kagome replied for lack of a better response.
"But I was right, too," he said, this time really surprising her, not because Inuyasha of the past wouldn't have said it, but because this Inuyasha said it. She remembered the first time she had met him and he had asked her wasn't she honored to be a miko with special powers, then apologized when she had disagreed with him.
"This lake is a thousand fold inferior to your beauty," he said. Kagome felt her heart quicken. Inuyasha would never have said something like this. Stop comparing each other! she berated herself.
"Th-thanks," Kagome stammered, a bit lost for words. Even Hojo had never said something like this.
"I don't know about you, but the lake makes me feel lonely," he said quietly. "It's like it tells me of someone that I love, but can't have."
"Yeah…" Kagome agreed with him, thinking of the Inuyasha from the Sengoku Jidai, dying without even giving her time to say anything, to prepare herself, to prevent him from dying.
"I'm not going to forget this night," he said, sighing.
"How do you know?" asked Kagome, thinking of earlier.
"I would be a fool to forget such a beautiful night spent with an even more beautiful lady," he said, smiling gently at her. "Her kindness and grace alone would make me feel guilt and suffering if such a night should be forgotten."
Kagome bowed her head in embarrassment, blushing crazily. How did this boy always manage to get this type of reaction from her?
She looked at his profile, defined by the moonlight and wondered. Was she falling in love with Musashino?
Sango had wandered a bit away from camp, finally stopping when she had reached the point where there was no more land to continue on. The moonlight showered the forest with a thin blanket of light, and she saw the illuminated treetops from her high position. Her ankle was really bothering her, but she decided to ignore it. She had come up here to relax, not to worry about a stupid ankle.
She sighed trying to relax, but really failing. She had needed to get away from Miroku's presence. She didn't know what was wrong with her. She knew she loved Miroku, yet she was afraid to get too close to him. She didn't know if it was because she was afraid to lose another loved one in a battle against Naraku, or if it was because Miroku used to grope her all the time. She sighed, still standing there, knowing that sooner or later she would tire out and have to either head back or sit down. She didn't want to sit down, because she didn't know if she could get up again. When she had wanted to get up and leave the camp, she had needed Miroku's help, which had greatly embarrassed her. She would have asked Kagome or Inuyasha, but the two had gone off somewhere, and she had a feeling that they weren't going to return anytime soon.
So here she was, trying to relax by standing. Great lot of help this was.
She would probably be more affectionate towards Miroku if he could just prove to her that he could be nice and show that he loved her without groping her. Sure, he hadn't groped her in the last couple days, but he hadn't done much of anything else, either. He had tried to carry her, which hadn't really worked out that well, and he was there to help her get up and such, but he really hadn't showed her any real gestures of affection. He hadn't moved to hug her and not try to grope her. He hadn't done anything.
She sighed, wondering if she should start heading back. She had left when she couldn't sleep, and now morning was about to come. Suddenly she heard a noise behind her.
"So there you are," Miroku said, smiling at her. She nodded her acknowledgement of his presence. They stood there, side by side for a few moments, neither saying a word to the other.
"I'm sorry," he said suddenly. She looked questioningly at him. He looked at her gently, smiling a true smile.
"What for?" she asked.
"I'm sorry that the first one you got from me was so clumsy," he said.
"What?" Sango asked, utterly confused. He took a step closer to her.
"I hope this will make up for my mistake earlier," he said. Sango was still confused when he leaned towards her, their lips gently embracing each other. She felt him put his arms around her, and she did the same, all doubts and worries gone. She felt the morning sun crawl over the forest, warming her cheeks. Whoever saw them would think that two angels were kissing in the morning sun, their form shining with light. Too soon, they broke apart.
"Heh. When's the marriage?" a familiar voice said. The two turned to the voice, each blushing until they felt that their cheeks were on fire.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome said, trying to frown at his childishness, but found herself smiling at the couple's new development of their relationship. This was how things should have been a long time ago.
Author's Note: This chapter was particularly hard to write. First off, I didn't know how exactly describe what happens to Inuyasha and his emotions, and right now I still don't think I did that great of a job. Oh well. The other thing was when I was writing the beginning of the chapter, things like biology, or English, or math kept on popping up in my mind, so that made it a bit difficult to concentrate. I hoped you enjoyed the chapter, though.
Thanks to Kitsune-greenleaf for providing the idea with the sunrise/sunset. It really helped me write the ending of the chapter. I wanted Miroku and Sango to move along already, but I didn't know what to do… Couldn't do the lake and water fight thingy because Inuyasha and Kagome are there, and nighttime is a bit late and dangerous for water fights, isn't it?
Wonder what's going to happen next? Your bet is as good as mine. I have the outline of the story, but I don't have any real details or events… I'm betting next chapter won't appear for a long time. (A long time to me equals two weeks.)